Telegraph switching system



Ju ne 28, 1938.

- R. F. DIRKES r AL TELEQRAPH SWITCHING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 8,1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 TRB INVENTOR R. F. DIRKES v. R. KIMBALL sybfl ATTORNEY Qwm m Julie 28,1938.

R. F. DIRKES ET AL TELEGRAPH SWITCHING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 8, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 MRO 73 i L I 1 l [2| I3! Ill |2| |3| I4 R 62 I 2 3 1 R2 R3 R 68 M fin INVENTOR R. F. DIRKES BY ATTORNEY V. RKIMBALL June28, 1938. R. F. DIRKES ET AL I TELEGRAPH SWITCHING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 8, 1.952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 5

S-STD INVENTOR R. F. DIRKES V.R.K|MBALL BYQ f ATTORNEY Patented June 28, 1938 UNITED STATES TELEGRAPH swrrcnmo SYSTEM Robert F. Dirkes, Jamaica, N. Y., and Vernon R. Kimball, Palisade Park, N. 1., asslgnors to The Western Union Telegraph Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application fJanuary s, 1932, Serial No. 585,582

12 Claims.

This invention relates to printing telegraph systems and more particularly to a telegraph switching system.

There is at the present time a tendency towards 5 the creation of telegraph exchange systems in which individual subscribers are equipped with printing telegraph sending and receiving apparatus of the ordinary start-stop type. The present invention relates to a telegraph exchange tions to be made between two simplex lines, between two multiplex channels, or between a multiplex channel and a simplex line. I

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear.- r

In accordance withour invention we employ a switching device at the main station responsive to regular telegraph code signals transmitted over a line for transferring that line to another branch line extending to a second 'subscriber office. Special code combinations, not used for regular intelligence communication, may be employed to efiect the switching operation or the switching combination may, at least in part, consist oi regular intelligence code groups. In either case they consist of code combinations of the same nature as those used for regular communication and are transmitted from the standard keyboard without the necessity of any special signaling equipment at the subscriber's oflice.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, reference will behad to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic showing at a central station, of one form of switching arrangement embodying the present invention, for connecting one simplex line to another;

Fig. 2 shows a modified arrangement for effect-'- ing such switching operations;

Fig. 3 shows a further modification employing stepping switches; I

I Fig. 4 shows an arrangement for transferring one channel of a multiplex circuit to a channel of another multiplex circuit;' and Fig. '5 shows an arrangement for transferring from one channel of a multiplex simplex circuit.

Referring first to Fig. 1, we have shown a line L extending from a transmitter T at a branch circuit to a or subscribers oiIice and.v terminating at a main oflice in a pair of serially arranged line relays LRI vand LRZ. The tongue of relay LRI is connected to the grounded winding of a magnet Ill controlling the operation of a multi-contact selector II. The selector is of the type operating on a permutation code either of the five or six unit type, such as shown 'in our application 'Ser. No. 490,274, filed October 20, 1930. It is shown diagrammatically as having an annular row of grounded contact rods I2, normally held out of engagement with cooperating U-shaped spring contacts I3, but being movable into engagement therewith, as in the case of contact rod I2a, in response to a predetermined code per-' mutation. Briefly the essential parts of the selector II comprise a notched code disk for each unit of the code, adapted to be moved into one of two positions under the control of the magnet III,

depending upon whether the associated code im-' pulse is of marking or spacing character. With the code disks'set up by a received 'code combination, a single row of notches will be arranged in alignment,-allowing'one of the code bars I2 to move'inwardly under spring pressure into engagement ,with its associated contactv I3. This type of selector is well known in the art and, therefore, has not been shown except diagrammatically.

One of the Ueshaped contacts I3!) is connected to one terminal of the winding of a charging relay I4, the other terminal of which is connected to a source of potential I5. The remaining contacts I3, with one' exception, are-connected by individual conductors I6 to one terminal of the operating windings I'I o'f'a group of transfer relays TRr to TR-z. The opposite terminal of the windings I! are connected together by a conductor I8 and also to one terminal of a restoring winding, provided for each of the relays. The opposite terminals of the windings -I9 are connected together by a conductor 2| and to the back contact of the relay I 4. The tongue of the relay I4 is grounded through a condenser 22 and the front contact thereof is connected to the source of potential I5. The contact I3c of the selector is connected-by conductor 23 to the right hand side of the restoring windings I9.

The right hand contact of each of the transfer relays TR1 to TR-z is connected by a common conductor 24 to the tongue of the line relay LR2.

. tact's, a circuit is completed from theline relay LR2 directly over the line L4. Consequently,

- and a group of multi-contact coding relays RI to R3. The start-stop distributor comprises a The left contacts of the relays TRr to TR-i are connected to negative or marking battery and the tongues are individually, connected to the outgoing lines LI to L1, terminating at'remotely arranged printers, which may be locatedin various subscribers omces. g

, The operation of the system shown in 'Fig. 1 is as fol ows. Assuming the tongue of relay TR4 to be .0 its right contact and the tongues of the remaining relayson their left or resting consignals received over the line L are repeated'over the line L4. These signals are also set-up on 15 "the contacts of the selector II but, in the absence one at the end of line L3, he first transmits a special code combination which closes contact 13b, energizing the relay I4, which attracts its tongue, applying the source of potential I5 to the condenser 22 to charge the same. This signal group is followed by a second group representative of the line L6 and which may be a coinbinatlon used for regular intelligence transmisoi'contact I3d, applying ground to the operating winding I! of relay Contact I3!) is released at this timeypermitting the tongue of relay I4 to drop to its back contact and allowing the condenser 2230 discharge through the restorin windings is or all of the selecting relays, in

parallel, and thence through the operating winding' ll of the single relay TRu to the groundedcont'act IN. This discharge through the restoring windings I9 is in such direction as to bias all the tongues to their resting contacts and the discharge through the operating winding I1 is.

",line relay LR2 to the branch line L0. The

tongue of relay TR4 is restored to its resting contact by the current through its restoring winding. The operator at line-L may then carry on communication with the operator at line Li. If the L line operator desires to disconnect his line entirely from any oi. the branchlines, he may do so by first sending a special charging code combination to close contact I31) and thereby operate relay I4 to charge the condenser; 22, followed by a second special code combination to close contact lie, so as to ground all of the restoring windings. The condenser 22 therefore discharges through all of the restoring windings 'in parallel, moving all of the relay tongues to their resting contacts and th eheby disconnecting the line relay LR2 from all of the branch-lines. In Fig. 2 we have shown a modified switching arrangement in which the multi-contactlselector is in the form of a start-stop distributor S-SD solid receiving ring 33, a segmented receiving ring 3|, a solid local ring 32 and-a segmented local ring 33. The tongue of the line relay LE1 slon. This latter combination eirects a' closing,

is'connected to the solid ring so and the segments .I to 6 of ring 3| are individually connected to the windings of coding relays RI to R6. The distributor is shown with six segments, corresponding to a six unit permutation code, but obviously the number Of'lImtS of the code may be varied by correspondingly changing the number of segments and thenumber of coding relays. The rest segment R of ring 3| is connected to ground through the winding of-a brush releasing relay 34, one contact of which is connected to a source of potential and the tongue of which is grounded through the start magnet 35. The brushes 36 and 31 of the receiving and local rings respectively are normally held at rest by the latch 38. Each of the relays RI to R6 is provided with a plurality ofcontacts adapted to be closed in various combinations as the relays are energized, to complete a selected baflie circuit from the conductor 39, connected in common to the tongues of relay I, to one of the contacts of relay 6. The conductor 39 is also connected to a segment 4| of the local ring 33 and the contacts of relay R6 are individually connected by conductors 42 V to the operatingwindings ll of the relays TR1 to TRa, for, controlling the connection of the line L to the lines LI to L8, The left hand terminals of the restoring windings I9, of relays TR1 to TRs, are connected by a common conductor 43 to ground.

.character code signals to effect a selection, may be used with the relay selector of Figure 2.

Since a sh: unit code is employed, the total number of available combinations is sixty-four,

' about three-fourths of which are necessary for operation 01' the receiving printers, the remaining combinations being available for selecting purposes. When it is desiredto establish connection between the line L and any one of the lines L] to L8, the combination 'representativeof the desired line is transmitted. The'start impulse of thegroup is repeated by the line relay LRi through'the brushes 36 and rest segment R to the relay 34, which in turn applies a starting impulse to the magnet to trip the latch 33 and. start the brushes 33 and 31 into rotation. Brush 36 passes over segments I to 6 in synchronism with the received selecting impulses in the usual manner, operating the relays RI to R6 in accordance with the received permutation. 11' line L2, for instance, isto be selected, relays Rl to R5 would be operated, completing a circuit through the top row of tongues and contacts of relays RI to R5 and upper tongue and its lower contact, of relay R6, to the conductor 42 asso- 1 contacts of relays RI to R5, upper tongue and lower contact of relay R6 to the operating winding I9 of relay TRz, thence by conductor II, to each of the restoring windings I9 in parallel and thence by conductor 43 to ground. All of the relays are'thus restored to their resting con-' tacts with the exception of relay TR: which completes a circuit from the line relay LR2 to the' ping magnets 50 and 5| for the transfer relays TR1 t0}TRaof Fig. 2. Each stepping relay consists of a'contact arm 52, normally urged toward a stop 53 by a spring, not shown, and movable over. a series of contacts a to h by means of a magnet 54, pawl 55 and ratchet wheel 55. A locking latch 51 is provided for holding the contact arm in each set position. and is adapted to be retracted by a release magnet 58 to allow the contact arm to be restored to its initial position. The release magnets 58 are included serially in circuit with the uppermost contact of relay R6.

The operating magnets 54 are included in circuits individual to the remaining contacts of relay R6. With this system when it is desired to connect the line Lwith one of thelines L| to Lls, -a special release code combination is first transmitted of such nature as to operate magnets R4 and R6 and thus complete a circuit from the segment 4| over conductor 39, upper tongues and lower contactsv of relays Rl to R3, upper tongue .and'upper contact of relay R4, upper tongue and lower contact of relay R5 and upper tongue and upper contact of relay R6 to the release magnets 58, which are energized thereby withdrawing the locking pawls 51 to restore all or the contact arms 52 to their insulated contacts and thereby interrupting the circuit from line relay LR2 through the contact arm 52 to the lines Ll to Llc. Following this ,a code combination representative of one of the stepping switches 50 or 5| is transmitted. This combination must be one not used for regular communication purposes. If line L4 is to be selected, the combination representative of switch 50 will be repeated four times, thus operating the tongues of the selecting relays in such an arrangement as to complete the-circuit from segment 4| through the magnet54 each time the brushes of the distributor revolve.' With the arm 52 of switch 50 locked on contact (1 by the locking pawl 51, a circuit is completed from the line relay LE2, by means of conductor 60 and contact arm 52, directly to the line L4.

All of the foregoing systems have been arranged for connecting one simplex line to another simplex line. ment for connecting one channel of a multiplex circuit to one of a plurality ofmultiplex printers or to a channel of another multiplex circuit operating at the same speed. The incoming multiplex line ML is connected to a line' relay LRa, which repeats the signals to the solid ring 6| of 'the multiplex receiving distributor MRD, which .of code relays Rl to R6, arranged as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. These segments are also connected to the contacts to 6 of each of a plurality of gang switches 65, 66 and 51. The opposing contacts of each gang switch are connected by conductors 68 to the selecting magnets of a multiplex printer or to a group of storage relays, not shown, for applyingthe code combinations to one channel of a transmitting multiplex distributor associated with another multiplex line, not shown. Each of the switches to 61 is provided with an operating magnet 69, having one terminal In Fig. 4 we have shown an arrange-- grounded and the other terminal connected by one of the conductors 1| to the individual contacts of the relay R5. The upper contact of relay R6 is connected in series with a release relay I2,

having its back contact connected to one contact 5' ment 13 of the local multiplex ring 14, through the tongue of relay RI and its lower contact, tongue of relay R2 and its upper contact, tongues of relays R3, R4 and R5, and their lower contacts and tongueof relayRG and its upper contact, to the winding of relay 12 and thence to ground. Relay 12 thus opens its contact, removing battery from the contact I of each of the switches, thereby interrupting the circuit to any of the operating magnets 69, the switch contacts of which are closed. With all of the switches open a second'code combination is transmitted representative of the particular gang switch to be operated, thus, for instance, if switch 65 is to be selected, selecting magnet R2 only would be operated, completing the baffle circuit from local segment 13 through the upper tongue and lower contact of relay RI, upper tongue and upper contact of relay R2, upper tongue and lower contacts of relays R3 to R6 and thence by one of the-- conductors 1| to the winding 69 of relay 55. This .impulse closes the gang switch 65 and completes a locking circuit for cell 69 from battery at the tongue of relay 12 through the contact 'I of the gang switch. With the switch 65 closed, the signal combinations received over one channel of the multiplex circuit are repeated over the conductors 58 to the segments of the multiplex transmitting distributor associated with the other multiplex circuit or to an associatedv multiplex printer. Obviously both multiplex distributors must be operated at the same speed and any of the various arrangements for maintaining such synchronism and phase relation as are known in the art may be employed for this purpose.

In Fig. 5 we have shown means for transferring from one channel of a multiplex system to any one of a number of simplex circuits. In this arrangement each of the contacts of. the code relay R6 is connected to the operating winding of an individual transfer relay ml to TR4 in the same manner as shown in Fig. 2. The relays TR1 to TR4 control the switching of the multiplex channel to one of the simplex lines Ll to L4. The contacts to 6 of the multiplex receiving distributor MRD are also individually connected to a group of six storing relays SR1 to SR6, the contact tongues-l5 of which play between marking and spacing bus bars 16 and 11 respectively. The tongues 15 are connected to segments to 6 of a start-stop transmitting distributor S-STD, segmented ring 18 of which is also provided with a start segment S and a rest segment R. Solid ring '19 of the distributor is connected to the right hand contacts of the transfer relays TR]. to TRl. I The brush 8| is normally held in rest position by a latch 82, controlled by a magnet 83, energized when the multiplex brush passes across local segment 84.

The operation is as follows. When it is desired '75 combination representative or such line is transmitted to complete a bafile circuitto the contacts of the relay group Rl to R and as the multiplex distributor brush passes on to segment 33 an impulse is transmittedover this baille circnit to the selected transfer relay, operating the same and restoring the other relay tonsils to their resting contacts. The succeeding signals then serve to set up the storagereiays SR1 -to SR so as to apply the'code combination to the segments of the start-stop transmitting distributor and as' the multiplex brush passes local segment 84, the start magnet 33 is energized, releasingthe brush 8| to complete one revolution and thereby transmit the code combination over the line.

The transmission of the signal impulses proceedsfrom the start-stop distributor, of course, during the time of the reception of the. corresponding signal imp'ulse of the succeeding signal group. It will be understood, of course, in this modification that the signal combinations used to operate the selecting relays TR1 to IE4 must not be rated tor regular communication purposes.

It is obvious, of course, that numerous changes may be madein the various systems proposed and that other systems will be apparent from the information given herein. Accordingly, we do not desire to be limited to the exact details shown, except as required by the terms of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A printing telegraph switching system comprising a line, means for transmitting code signals over said line, a plurality of ass eciated lines,

a selecting relay for each ofsaid associated lines arranged to connect said first line thereto and means controlled by certain of said code signals for operating a predetermined relay to connect said first line with a desired one of said associated lines.

2. A printing telegraph switching systemeomprising a line, means for transmitting code signals over said line, a pluralityof associated lines, a selecting device for each of said associated lines, arranged to connect said first line thereto and means controlled by certain of said code simials transmitted over said first line for operating a predetermined selecting device to connect said first line with a desired one of said associated lines and means controlled by other code signals transmitted over said first line for disconnecting said first line from said associated lines.

3. A printing telegraph switching system comprising a line, means for transmitting code signals over said line, a pluraiity of associatedllnes,

a selecting relay for each or said associated lines arranged to connect said firstline thereto, an operating winding and a restoring winding for each relay and means responsive. to certain code cnmbinations for energizing theoperating winding of the relay associated with a predetermined one oiasaid associated lines and the restoring windings of the remaining relays whereby to concondenser through a predetermined selecting cirraaso'r w to select one of the lines Ll to LI 9. special code cult to eflcnt a connection between said first line and the associated line controlled-by said predetermined selecting circuit. 3

5.A printing telegraph? wstem comprising a line, means for transmitting a. succession ofi code signals-oversaid line, a plurality of associated lines, a selecting circuit for each or said associated lines, a-,condenser associated with said' selector circuits, means responsive to a special code combination for charging said condenser and I means resp-onsive to a succeeding code combination for discharging the. condenser through a predetermined selectingcircuit to effect a connection between said first line and the associated line controlled by said predetermined selecting 6. Aprinting telegraph switching system com-- prising a line, means for transmitting a succes sion of, permutation code-signals over said line,

' a plurality of associated lines, means for connecting said first line selectively to any one of said associated lines and means whereby said first mentioned means is made responsive to a single predetermined permutation code signal transmitted over said first line.

'7. A printing telegraph switching system comsaid first mentioned means is made responsive-to a single permutation codesignal received over said first line.

8. Aprinting telegraph switching system comprising a line arranged to transmitpermutation code signals, a main ofllce at which said line terminates, a plurality of associated lines also terminating at said main ofiice, a rotary distributor at the main oifice, a group c-f coding relays associated therewith, selecting circuits controlled by said coding relays, means included in said selecting circuits for connecting said first lin'e' selectively to one of said associated lines and means for applying predetermined code signals,

received over said first line, to said rotary distributor tooperate said coding relays.

-' 9. A printing telegraph switching system comprising a plurality of multiplex lines terminating at a niain station and a selector mechanism common to said lines, said selector mechanism being responsive to predetermined code signals received over a channel of one multiplex line for connecting said channel to one channel of another multiplex line.

,10. A printing telegraph switching system comprising a plurality of multiplex lines termi nating at a main station, a-switehing mechanism for completing connections between. a channel of one multiplex line and a channel of another multiplex line, said switching mechanism being responsive to predetermined signal combinations received over a channel of one multiplex line for interrupting its existing connections and connecting said channel toa different multiplex channel.

11. A printing telegraph switching system comprising a multiplex line terminating at a main station, a p lurality of simplex lines terminating at said station and means responsive to predetermined code combinations received over one channel of the multiplex line for eflecti'ng connectionsselectively between said channel and one of said simplex lines whereby the succeeding signals received over said channel will be repeated over said selected simplex lines.

12. A printing telegraph system comprising a plurality of multiplex channels, and a plurality of simplex channels terminating at said station, and means for completing connections between presaid channels for varying the connections be tween said multiplex and simplex channels.

ROBERT F. DIRKES. VERNON R. KIMBALL. 

